Middle Passage Essay Example

The Middle Passage entailed a triangular route used for the shipment of slaves from Africa to Europe and eventually to the New World. Ships were used to send goods to Africa, and the products were traded for African slaves. The slaves, chained together in cargo ship were moved to the New World. In the ship, they had to endure hunger and thirst due to little food and water even though the journey could take weeks or months (Mallipeddi 237). After kidnapping or purchasing the African slaves and transporting them to the New World, they were exchanged for raw materials. After such a trade, the raw materials were transported to Europe. The Middle Passage began in the 1600s and continued through to the beginning of the 1800s. During the journey, many people lost their lives.

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The trading system of the Middle Passage involved three parts. The first part involved the ship traveling from Europe to Africa. In Africa, items like ammunitions and guns would be traded for slaves. The second part was the shipment of African slaves from Africa to the New World where they were sold for various products such as tobacco, coffee, and cotton. After obtaining the products, the ship returned to Europe (Taylor 757). Ideally, different countries took part in the Middle Passage. These comprised of France, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, England, Spain, Portugal, the Americas, as well as the Caribbean. The slaves were obtained from Benin, Southeastern Africa, Windward Coast, West Central Africa, Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea (Taylor 758). The captured Africans were then marched in chains for several days to the ports in the West African coast. At the coast, the slaves were held until traded. The slaves were packed into close quarters and chained during the voyage. The traders aimed to make maximum profits by ensuring that the ships were full of slaves.

When loading the slave ships, two philosophies were used. These included loose and tight packing. In loose packing, a small number of slaves were loaded per ship to ensure that they reached the destination alive. Tight packing involved loading many slaves to produce higher profits. The captains believed that the more the number of slaves notwithstanding the casualties would lead to huge profits at the trading block (Batterson 351). Before purchasing the slaves, doctors were entitled to inspect them to determine those who would survive the voyage. While on board, the slaves were given two meals daily. The crew also cut holes into the deck to allow free flow of breathing air into the ship, which was closed during stormy conditions (Mallipeddi 249). However, the duration of travel from Africa to the New World depended on a range of factors such as the quality of the ship, as well as weather conditions. The duration ranged between one month and six months.

Concisely, as faster and better ships were developed, the duration reduced substantially. The slaves were kept in poorly ventilated areas, which led to the rapid spread of communicable diseases. These diseases killed a large number of African slaves. As they packed the slaves in ships, the management was not concerned about the appropriate number that such ships should accommodate to avoid congestion (Batterson 353). For instance, when James Barbot aboard Don Carlos ship, which was an English slaver, he affirmed that approximately twenty-eight people lost their lives by either drowning or killed due to the congested ship. As such, Barbot observed the great mortality that occurred in slave-ships (Barbot 58). The slave traders only considered the slaves as cargo but not humans. They aimed at ensuring that their cargo reached their destinations to enable them to generate profit. However, due to horrific conditions on slave ships, most of the slaves decided to commit suicide by jumping over the side of the ship. Even though it is difficult to establish the exact number of slaves who died during the Middle Passage, some experts estimate the number to be two million, which represents fifteen percent of all the slaves. For instance, Olaudah Equiano recounts the events he went through during the period when African slaves were exposed to difficult times as they were moved from one place to another. Equiano felt some sense of isolation as he also feared that the European slavers would eat him (Murphy 562). In essence, the complexions of the slave traders differed from those of the slaves. The language they spoke was also different hence depicting the horrors of his views and fears during the Middle Passage.

Ideally, a slave trader ship would carry thirty crew members and a large number of slaves. The total number of slaves that were forced to move to the New World was twelve million. These Africans were sold into slavery against their will. While in the ships, the conditions were horrible (Falconbridge 41). As such, the slaves could not breathe since they were packed tight in the cargo ships. The slave traders ensured that they avoided a rebellion by chaining the slaves together. The crew would throw the slaves overboard in situations where there was water shortage experienced by the ships. Examples include the case where the Zong ship crew chained a hundred and thirty-two people and threw them overboard (Batterson 355). The French ship La Rodeur also drowned thirty-nine slaves. The owner of the ship covered drowning in insurance as opposed to death due to sickness, which was not covered by the insurance.

Additionally, some of the common diseases that killed the African slaves comprised of amoebic dysentery, scurvy disease, smallpox, measles, and syphilis. The diseases were caused due to a large number of people who were packed below the decks of cargo ships. In essence, leg irons and shackles were used to shackle the men together to prevent them from resisting transportation to the New World (Burnard 595). Since the men were young and strong, they were considered dangerous and could turn on the captors if they had the opportunity. The slaves were packed so close to one another that they found it difficult even to reach the toilet buckets. Therefore, they had to lie in their filth and were not capable of getting help from the traders in any way whatsoever. Apart from sicknesses, the slaves were affected by other problems. These comprised of heat and lack of enough air to accommodate all the individuals on board. The challenges led to a terrible smell and body flux. Most of the enslaved African did not write their Middle Passage accounts even though they experienced harsh conditions. That was because many slaves did not know how to write.

Olaudah Equiano was one of the writers who experienced what the slaves were going through at the time of the passage. He saw a multitude of blacks who were chained together, and their countenances expressed sorrow and dejection (Murphy 567). In the ship, there were shrieks of women and groans of people who were about to die. These occurrences rendered a horror scene as death was the fate awaiting most of the slaves who were unable to endure the hardships. Only a small number of the ships that crossed the Middle Passage did not report deaths of those who were on board (Burnard 596). Some of the deaths occurred due to suicide or even murder at the hands of captains and slave crew. The captives came from different nations and were mixed hence it was difficult for them to plan rebellions against the slave traders. The children and women were put in different ships from the men.

Conclusion

Precisely, the Middle Passage brutalized enslaved people, as well as the sailors. The captain was not accountable for anything that happened to the sailors and slaves. The number of captives was significantly higher than that of the crew, which made the crew fear any sense of rebellion. As the disease spread on the voyage, the dying individuals were thrown overboard. The sick Africans were considered a threat to the crew and cargo that remained in the ships. As the voyage showed horrors of the Middle Passage trade, it swayed public opinion against it. The number of deaths reported was high. At circumstances, the crew treated the slaves harshly. When the slaves reached the New World, they were fed and cleaned to bring high prices and profits. The people who were not suitable for selling were left for dead.

Works Cited

Barbot Jr, James. "Premeditated a Revolt." The University of Houston, 2013.

Batterson, Sarah. "Identity, Survival and Power in the Middle Passage." Reviews in American History 46.3 (2018): 351-357.

Burnard, Trevor. "Slavery at Sea: Terror, Sex, and Sickness in the Middle Passage." (2017): 594-597.

Falconbridge, Anna Maria. Narrative of Two Voyages to the River Sierra Leone During the Years 1791-1793. London: Routledge, 2014.

Mallipeddi, Ramesh. "A Fixed Melancholy": Migration, Memory, and the Middle Passage." The eighteenth century55.2 (2014): 235-253.

Murphy, Geraldine. "Olaudah Equiano, accidental tourist." Eighteenth-Century Studies 27.4 (1994): 551-568.

Taylor, Eric Robert. "Slavery at Sea: Terror, Sex, and Sickness in the Middle Passage." (2017): 757-758.